MIDWAY through Lost Horizons' sold-out debut Brighton gig, the band's co-founder Simon Raymonde gave a hearty thanks to his adopted hometown.

Raymonde has an illustrious history in music, having been part of seminal alternative band Cocteau Twins before establishing the cherished indie label Bella Union. But it was a move to Brighton that got his creative juices flowing again as he and longtime collaborator Richie Thomas began to sculpt Lost Horizon's atmospheric debut album Ojala.

The record features 15 vocalists and, as Raymonde joked at one point during this gig, it had initially seemed a tall order to replicate that diversity in a live show. He needn't have worried, however, as his assembled team of session musicians appear to have slotted seamlessly into the Lost Horizons' dynamic while bringing their own unique spark to the set.

Beth Cannon, for instance, is a towering frontwoman, able to shift effortlessly between the tender delivery of The Places We've Been (featuring lush, delicate guitar work from Raymonde) and the impassioned fever pitch of Bones, in which she pushed her larynx to its considerable limit.

She dovetailed well with the energetic Ed Riman, who took over lead vocals for Reckless, a highlight of the set. The song's brooding spoken-word monologue and gentle piano gave way to a single line which Riman repeated with increasing intensity: "I'm living in a reckless kind of way/and I can't breathe to make sense of it."

To an extent, Lost Horizons' lyrical themes are characterised by the kind of melancholy evident in that track, although this is often contrasted with slow-building euphoria or, at the very least, hope. Witness set-opener I Saw the Days Go By, for instance, given new life in this set by Helen Ganya Brown (who also supported with her brilliant project Dog in the Snow).

Although the song could be said to possess a rather mournful quality, it's most affecting line - "Watch the weather fade away from California" - was nothing less than uplifting in its melodic beauty.

While Raymonde had expressed gratitude towards Brighton and its people earlier in the night, the reverse was very much true as Lost Horizons left the stage to wild applause and calls for an encore.